Young Agrarians is collaborating with the Compost Ed Centre for their first Vancouver Island Potluck! Calling all farm folk, rural and urban, foodies and food gardeners, permaculturists and food systems thinkers.

Join us Saturday, October 13th, 2012. We’ll meet at 5:30 pm and start the potluck at 6:30.

Please bring a dish to share, and things to eat with, like plates & cutlery, and something to drink. Friends, wee ones and loved ones welcome. Please help us spread the word!

Location: The straw bale building at the Compost Education Centre, 1216 North Park Street, Victoria, BC

What is a Young Agrarian?

A new entrant into agriculture. Someone from the city or country who values growing food, farmers, nature and community!

Who are the Young Agrarians?

The Young Agrarians are promoters of the new agrarian movement. Young agriculturalists, farmers, urban farmers, market gardeners and their supporters using the power of media and the internet to build a community that can feed the people of Canada. The young agrarians are the trumpet blowers, promoters, marketeers and designers who want to rebuild, promote and inspire the agriculture of our country. Around the globe young and old alike are returning to the soil to take up the work of feeding people and caring for our land.

Why do we need Young Agrarians?

• Canada’s farming population is shrinking, reaching a historic low in 2006, according to Statistics Canada figures. While one in three (33%) Canadians used to live on a farm in 1931, that number plummeted to one in 46 (2%) in 2006.

• Stats Canada average age of Farmers in 2011 = 55

• According to the Fraser Basin Council’s 2010 B.C. Sustainability Snapshot, more than 50% of farmers are aged 59 and up with less than 5% 34 and younger.

• Population of Canada 33,739,900, # of farmers in Canada 684,260 or 327,055 farm operators (less than 2% of total population)

• $20,000 average yearly net loss for farmers in Canada

• 1 in every 2 farmers under 55 report that off farm employment is their main source of income.

• Land-use changes and fossil fuel burning are the two major sources of the increased CO2 in the atmosphere that is changing the global climate. Overall, land use and land-use changes account for some 31 percent of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

• Livestock now account for 50 percent of emissions from agriculture and land-use change.

What does Young Agrarians (YA) do?

YA is both an on-line and off-line community building project! YA is building an online network to engage young farmers, would be farmers and the public in the reshaping of our food system. It includes: a young farmers blog and farmer resources, and will soon include a digital mapping project centralizing farmer and sustainable agriculture resources to support the next generation of food producers in our country! Help us build the real time network! YA is looking for collaborators! Are you doing great stuff in your community already around local food and farming? Get in touch!